Improvement in turbine water-wheels



EDWINR. BEARDSLEY, OF AROMA, ILLINOIS.

Letters 'Patent No. 108,436, dated (lctober 18, 1870; antedated October 15, 1870.

IMPRCVEMENT IN TURBINE WATER-WHEELS.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of the same.

To all whoml it may concern:

Be it known that L* EDWIN R. BnAnDsLEY, of Aroma, in the county of Kankakee and. State of Illinois, have invented anImprovement on aIurbine Water-Wheel, patented by me on the seventh day of December, eighteen hundred and sixty-nine.; and I do hereby declare that the following is a f ull, clear, and exact description thereof, which will enable those skilled in the art to make and use the same, referenceV being had to the accompanying drawing and letters 4marked thereon, making a part of this specification,

in whichy I `igure l is a perspective reprcsel'itation of my improved whecl.

Figure 2, a section of t-he same. Figure 3, an elevation of' the casing of the gate-rod. 'The nature of the present invention consists- First, in the novel construction of a conical break water, attached to the inner edge of the llower rim of the wheel, and used torcduce the pressure of water resting on the wheel, and to prevent leakage.

VSeonihiu attaching aflan'gejo the top part of the outer periphery of the cylindrical gate, whereby water entering ports in the dome or upper part of' the wheel will come in contact with said iiange with sufficient i'orcc to suspend the gate, as against its own gravity, and prevent friction of the gat-ered, as `the whole is hereinafter fully described.

N representsthc bottom of a tlnme;

K L M is the wheel;

J, the dome; and

(Ll I XV, the gate of the wheel, shown in the patent above referred to, the several parts being so arranged that'the water is taken from the periphery of the wheel and discharged through the bottom.

In the aforesaid patent, the breakwater is placed near the pcripheryot' the wheel, and has an annular form, inside ot' which the wheel runs.

what I term a breakwater, S, it having an inverted conical form, and allowinglr the water to pass freely from the bucketsthrough the opening at the bottom; whileV at the same time the rotary current is not broken so as to retard the forward motion of the wheel. This construction and arrangement is such ythat the water ceases to act on the bucketsalter it enters the break-v water.

The bottom of the breakwater is provided with a narrowilange, I, projecting past the upper edge of the bottom N of'ume, said flange running closely to the bottom S, and guiding the waterthrough it.

In the aforesaid patent, the upper rim of the wheel, shown at K in the present drawing, was made to extend' inward to the cylindrical gate W, by means of which the latter necessarily had to be operated against its own gravity.

In the present invention, I obviate the last-named difiiculty by removing that part of the upper rim which lprojected inside of the dome J, and attaching an annular flange a a. to the top part of the outer periphery of the gate IV, as shown in fig. 2and" by making ports, b, throughthe don1e,just above the rim` K. 'lhis arrangement is such that the water enters the ports, passes upward and bears against said ange a af, with sufiicient force to balance or suspend the gate IV, thus almost relieving the gate-rod B from friction as it moves in the cylinder G.

Having thus described my invention,

IVhat I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is-

1. The conical breakwater S, constructed as described, and combined with the wheel to lessenthe pressure of water and prevent leakage, as set forth.

2. The annular anges on the outer periphery of the gate W, to operate inside of tbe dome J in combination with the ports b, the whole being arranged to balance the gate as against its own gravity, as and for the purpose shown and specilied.

' EDWIN R. BEARDSLEY.

IVitnesses J. H. SKELLY, H. Y. SWAN. 

